How We can Get the Perfect Photographs of the Birds? (Bird Photography Tips)

The Photography of the Birds is not less than any challenging task, especially when we talk about the photography of the wild Birds. You need to take care of many important things if you have decided to get the perfect photographs of the birds. These things can be related to the ideal camera and many other necessary accessories for the best bird’s photos. You need to approach and watch the birds closely for the perfect photographs of the birds.

Important things for the perfect photographs of the Birds

There are different things that you need to keep in mind while going for birds photography. Let’s see some essential things which you need to focus on to get the perfect photographs of the birds.

1. Camera Equipment

Camera equipment is one of the most important things to get the perfect images of the birds. You need to look for the best camera with high-quality features for the ideal photographs of the birds. Some people recommend the camera with a shutter speed of 1/12000 second for the best photos. Make sure the camera buffer is big enough to handle the large bursts. If you can buy an autofocus system camera, this will be better as compared to the other manual system cameras. Any modern camera can shoot with the 1/12000 shutter speed. A professional camera with fast frames per second and autofocus can fulfill all your needs of a special birding camera.

The other thing about the camera is its lens. The better lens will be perfect for better results as compared to regular lens cameras. The quality of the lens depends upon the money you want to spend on the camera. The best bird photographers usually use cameras with 400mm, 500mm, 600mm, or 800mm lenses. You also need to take care of the sensor size, which can affect the field of view. The observing of the birds with these lenses and sensors becomes very easy. You can easily observe the birds from long distances.

A tripod system is also another necessary camera equipment for perfect and comfortable photography, especially when you are using a heavy camera for photography. You need to buy an ideal solid carbon fiber legs tripod to hold the heavy camera.

2. Camera setting

The second important thing is about the different camera settings depending upon the location and distance. You need to maintain a high shutter speed to get quality photographs of the small birds, especially to get the pictures of the flying birds. Sometimes people also choose a little bit slower shutter speed settings. These settings little blur the wings of the birds, which gives the flying feelings to the picture. But in all the other cases of photography, makes sure the high shutter speed. You can use the different shutter speed modes from shutter priority, Aperture priority, and program. Many people mostly use Aperture settings to get good results; some modern cameras also come with the auto ISR system. This system usually automatically sets the camera according to the locations and environment.

Shooting handheld will not be a problem if you have a light enough camera with fast shutter speed. But sometimes the light conditions are not right, and you need to lower your shutter speed to get the right results. But you can’t just reduce your shutter speed from a specific threshold to prevent blur images. So you can follow a general rule for the shutter speed. You can simply keep your camera shutter speed to at least the total focal length of the lens. You can follow the below custom settings for the perfect results.

• THE dynamic AF area should be 9 points.
• AF point selection should be 9 pints.
• Exp comp/fine-tune should be 1/3.
• Iso sensitivity step value should be 1/3.
• The beep should be off.
• Multi-selector should be off.
• “On” the viewfinder grid display.
• AF-S priority selection should be focused on.

3. Locating Birds

Locating the birds in different locations can also play a role in the perfect bird’s photography. You can just start with the most commonly found birds like finches, sparrows, and robins. These birds are usually not shy and like posing for photography. Then you need to develop some useful techniques and skills to take photographs of the birds which are sitting on the benches, stems, and flying. You also need to choose a good time for photography. The best birding photography time is early morning or late afternoon. Early morning time can be the most suitable time because birds are looking for food in the early morning.

After some practice, you can go for professional photography. For this purpose, you can Google the perfect birding locations near you. But if you don’t have enough time, a near zoo or any other birding place can be the ideal choice for photography.

4. Approaching the birds

Many birds are camera shy, and you need some special techniques to approach these birds. All birds have different comfort zones. If you go very closer to them, they will fly away. Different birds have their tolerance level; you need to understand that to take the perfect pictures of each species. There are various techniques to approach shy birds. Let’s see these techniques.

• Make sure you don’t wear any kind of brighter color clothes. You just need to mix in the environment as much as possible. For example, if you are going to take photographs in greenery places, you can wear clothes like the tree colors.
• Whenever you see a bird, just slow down your speed. Try to don’t suddenly change your behavior. Try to move towards the bird with the same lazy motion. Make sure to keep a reasonable distance from the bird.
• Now it’s time to raise your camera. But make sure to don’t create any kind of voice. Just take your camera and take a picture very slowly.
• You can also move towards the birds with zigzag style. The key is to move zigzag in very slow motion. Moreover, you can also keep your weight on the back foot for the perfect results.
• If the birds are directly looking towards you, just stop and observe the bird. When the bird is looking in any other direction, this is the right time to move towards the bird.
• Make sure to keep your noise low, especially when you are walking from the bushes or walking on some cracking thing. So make sure to take the steps according to the surface and environment.
• Don’t stare at the bird while walking towards it.

5. Post-processing and cropping

After taking the bird’s images by following all the above steps, now it’s time to post-process your images for the best results. You can use different software for this purpose. But the most commonly used software is Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop. You can easily do the necessary edits on both software, including the cropping.

Cropping is one of the essential parts of post-processing in bird photography. Because the birds are not usually sit in front of the camera with a perfect desired pose. The cropping of the images is the ideal way to resize, highlight, and remove the unwanted part of the image. So you can crop your picture depending upon the space you want to give to the bird in the picture.

10 Rules of Bird Photography

Conclusion

From all the above discussion, we can conclude that the photography of the birds is no less than a challenging task, especially when we talk about the photography of the wild and shy birds. You need to stay concentrated and focused while taking pictures of the birds.